Edible Plants

[HilaryF]

Hi everyone,

I have a question about edible plant seedlings. I followed the instructions on a seed packet with seeds for cornflower, sunflower, borage, and calendula. I sowed the seeds in pots, approximately 1/2 cm deep, and a bit less than 10 cm apart. I have two pots with about 3-4 seedlings in each. They are all growing, but the problem is that they've sprouted up too close together. I assume that the seeds moved around during watering.

Can I transplant a few of these seedlings into other pots without damaging them so that they have room to grow? When would be a good time to do so (they are about 2 weeks old and still very small at the moment)?

Thanks a bunch!!!

[GardenGnome]

When I did sunflowers in cells the roots grew super fast.
But if it was me I would carefully dump out the dirt. And spread the dirt apart picking out the plants and roots with them. Then place them where you want them. I put some dirt on the bottom of the new pot then put it on its side. And put some dirt on the side of the pots inside. Then lay the roots on the dirt then fill the rest . And turn the pot upright as you fill it up. If you look in the seed starting part of the forum you might find better info.
Idk if I'm doing it the ok way I'm new. Some say wait for the first true leafs but by then the roots grow so much and they say you don't want to dmg the roots. So I move them when there small.

[HilaryF]

Hi GardenGnome,

Thanks so much for your reply. I'll definitely be trying this today during my container garden overhaul. I planted out all my veggies and fruits on Friday afternoon and the containers need to be moved around (tomatoes in the sunniest areas, etc.). It's a bit early to plant out safely in Toronto, but the weather has been warmer than usual lately - hopefully there won't be any cold fronts or casualties.

I'm pretty excited - get to plant some marigolds and herbs today too! And I'm seeding my carrots (a bit late - but oh well)

I'll let you know how the edible flower seedling transplanting goes - there are still no true leaves, so hopefully I didn't wait to long. I'm a beginner, but I've found that I've had luck even with seeding cucumber indoors and planting it out... we'll see what happens

[lorax]

WAIT! No true leaves is too soon to transplant - they haven't got enough root system to support that kind of stress yet. I'd give them 3-4 true leaves before moving them the way GG suggests.

If you want to move seedling when they're that young, it's best to simply pick them up with a handfull of their soil and move them in the pot - that way they won't know they've been moved.